Environment and Natural Resources

The Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, in collaboration with Woodwell Climate Research Center, the Alaska Institute for Justice, and the Alaska Native Science Commission, announced the launch of Permafrost Pathways: Connecting Science, People, and Policy for Arctic Justice and Global Climate. A multipronged $41 million initiative catalyzed through the The Audacious Project, the Pathways project will bring together leading experts in climate science, policy action, and environmental justice to inform and develop adaptation and mitigation strategies that address the local and global impacts of Arctic permafrost thaw. 

On Friday, April 23, the Belfer Center’s Intelligence Project and Environment and Natural Resources Program, along with the Center for Climate and Security, co-hosted a half-day conference on Climate Change, Intelligence, and Global Security. The conference featured a keynote address from Secretary John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and came directly after President Joe Biden’s Earth Day Leaders Climate Summit.

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements co-sponsored a webinar on March 30, 2021: “The Future of Green India: Energy and Climate Change.” Hosting the event was the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University. The other co-sponsors were the Environment and Natural Resources Program in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School — and the Harvard University Center for the Environment. The Harvard Global Institute provided support for the seminar and a larger project of which it is part.

Climate@HKSis a new online resource for navigating the full range of climate-related activity across Harvard Kennedy School's research centers, degree programs, and administrative departments.

With 2019 on pace as one of the warmest years on record, a major new study from the University of California, Davis, reveals how rapidly the Arctic is warming and examines global consequences of continued polar warming.

Join us for a special recording of the Climate One podcast and radio show at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, featuring Harvard's John Holdren and Gina McCarthy and hosted by Greg Dalton.

This article discusses the climate challenges the Arctic region is facing, and the Arctic Initiative's new Arctic Innovator's program, committed to training new leaders and spearheading new research in the Arctic region.

An event held in the Kennedy School's Bell Hall Nov. 15 challenged students in the Arctic Initiative's Arctic Innovators program to present their ideas to improve the region in a two and a half minute pitch.

The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) today announced the establishment of The Arctic Initiative: Science, Technology, Education, and Policy Innovation for a Sustainable Arctic. The Arctic Initiative is a joint project of the Belfer Center’s Environment and Natural Resources Program (ENRP) and the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program (STPP).